1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to fiber connector inspectors and more particularly to an apparatus designed for simultaneously inspecting and cleaning the endface of the fiber connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiber optics communication has been the dominant and widespread means for modern-day telecommunications. Fiber connectors are one of the key components of the fiber optics communication system. Any defect, scratch or contamination on the endface of a fiber connector can cause failure of a fiber optics component or failure of the entire fiber optics communication system. Therefore, it is important that the endface of every fiber connector be inspected, and cleaned when necessary, at both the manufacturer site and the user site.
The international standard, IEC 61300-3-35, provides methods for quantitatively assessing the endface quality of a polished optical fiber connector. According to this standard, a fiber endface must be examined against the acceptance criteria. If a fiber fails the inspection, the user shall clean the fiber endface and redo the inspection. Inspecting and cleaning shall be repeated until the connector is finally determined to pass or fail.
Many apparatuses have been designed for inspecting and cleaning fiber connectors. Most of them only support independent inspection or cleaning actions, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,017, U.S. Pat. No. 7,312,859, U.S. Pat. No. 7,336,884, U.S. Pat. No. 8,104,976, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,429,784. There are apparatuses, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,356,236 and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2013/0229650, that integrate the functions of inspection and cleaning into one equipment, however, the inspection and cleaning with those apparatuses are still separately performed. In the U.S. Pat. No. 7,356,236, the optical fiber connector should first be inserted into the microscope for inspection and then be removed for cleaning, if necessary, on the attached cleaning kit. Since the cleaning result is not known without going through another inspection, this connector has to be inserted back into the microscope again, and so on. An alternative method is described in U.S. Pat. App. No. 2013/0229650, in which the fiber microscope and the cleaner are moved in and out the working spot instead of the fiber connector, thereby allowing the fiber connector to stay in position during the inspection and cleaning procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,566,176 describes a design of an optical fiber endface cleaning apparatus for the fiber connector located in the adapter that is arranged on the backplane of a communication equipment. It mentions incorporating an inspection microscope within the cleaning apparatus to monitor the cleaning situation. However, this cleaning apparatus has a complicated design and requires a special dispensing assembly for the cleaning. It also requires an evacuation channel to remove the cleaning solvent in order to avoid secondary contamination. Due to the limitations of the apparatus, the connector endface cannot be cleaned manually.
It is the objective of the present invention to provide a fiberscope that allows the fiber connector to be inspected and cleaned simultaneously without repeated insertion and removal of the fiber connector, and also without the need of alternatively moving the microscope and cleaner in and out the working scene.